Per usual, watching Leia change, develop, and make advances is so funny! This week her new vocabulary word of choice is "Yes." Previously she seemed to speak like a New Yorker with a thick accent, "Yeh," which was absolutely hilarious, but now she's switched to this very definitive "Yesss," with emphasis on the 's', and it's actually both funny and really pleasant to listen to because it makes her sound very proper and educated. She also started talking about "scuba's" one morning, and I was really confused for awhile until I realized we had passed a big yellow "school bus." Now she loves to yell out "scu-bas" every morning when they pass by us.
She's been really into playing with the bottle warmer these days as well. She loves to put the empty bottle in and pretend to heat up the milk. And even when she's not using the actual bottle warmer, she's always going back and forth to her BBQ to heat up bottles for her baby. She always makes sure to tell her baby that she has to be patient and wait for the hot milk, which is exactly what I'm always telling her as she's freaking out, in tears, and having a total meltdown because she can't wait for the milk to heat up! Baby is much more patient!! A few times I asked her if she was patient when she waited for her milk, and of course she replied yes...yeah right!
We got her a new book about being a big sister, and it's her absolute favorite. She makes me read it to her over and over all day long. Interestingly though, despite her being so excited about being a big helper and a big sister, she's also started to get really needy from Mommy. Extra hugs, extra uppies, wanting to be held horizontal in my arms while I sing "rock a baby." The extra loving is nice, except at bedtime when she won't let me leave without getting very upset.
We went to visit my friend Zeena and her baby Zane this weekend. Leia was in 7th Heaven "helping" Zeena take care of Zane, so it was more good practice for when little sister arrives. She did like to put a lot of stuff on Zane's face, and try to take his socks on and off a lot, so we'll definitely have to work on this whole "helping" thing! She was legitimately helpful when she kept picking up his blanket and recovering him as it continued to fall off him on his swing. It was really fun to meet Baby Zane, who was so cute, and catch up with Zeena and Rob (aka Robin, per Leia), who were both so great in their interactions with my little 2 year old that she fell in love and felt so comfortable with them instantly. And the bonus round was a quick visit by Zeina and her new baby Kelvin, so Leia was just beside herself. She barely even picked up her own baby all weekend!
Finally, since we were in Oakland, we took the opportunity to visit the Oakland Zoo. There aren't any zoo's near us, so I was really excited for Leia. When I told her, her eyes lit up and she had a huge grin on her face. The whole way in the car and on the walk into the park she kept yelling about seeing "Animals!" and laughing and being jolly. It made me feel so good to make her so happy and excited. Then we finally got into the zoo, and it was a total buzz kill. It was so crowded, the map was terrible, and it took us forever to find the first real animal. Plus, maybe I've been reading too much Curious George, but I just don't remember the animals being so hard to see! They were all either hiding somewhere in their habitats or the habitats themselves were so dense with leaves and branches and not very see-through canvas walls, that even I found it really difficult to get a good look, much less a 2 year old (guess that's why 2 year old are still free)! In the end, we did see plenty of animals that made her excited: monkeys (but they were some of the hard ones to see), chimpanzees, sea otters, giraffes, camels, hyenas, flamingos, macaws, elephants, and zebras. At one point she got over the whole thing and just wanted to find a shady bench to sit on, not caring one bit if it was near any animals or not. Luckily I found one right in front of the elephants, so we got to sit and relax, eat lunch, and still enjoy the animals. A good time was had by all and the trip was a success, but I don't think I'll go back to the Oakland Zoo anytime soon, and now I need to figure out if all zoo's are really like that?
Now who's this little diva?
Just love the clothing ensembles she puts together these days!
Don't you do all your gardening in your fur coat?
Little goof!
Come here Mommy, let me see that pretty face of yours!
Diva model shoot.
Hmmm, now let me think about this...
Ok Mom, enough is enough, are we done here yet?
New way to ride in the stroller!
She sure fits in some small places for such a big girl!
Helping Daddy dig holes in the yard for a little landscape make-over.
So fun getting to see Zeena and Baby Zane!
Proud Mama and cute baby (age is just shy of 3 months).
Chillin' in his swing...he was such a mellow fellow!
Leia was on cloud 9 to be able to help take care of the baby...always made sure he had his blanket.
Checking out all the cool vegetation on Zeena and Rob's deck.
Always such a good little helper!
My little sweetie!
Can't get enough of that smile!
Toga party!
So excited for her first visit to the zoo!
We took our lunch break on a nice shady bench by the elephants.
Got to see giraffes!
A little quality Mommy and Leia time.
Insisted she needed all this crap in her lap this morning on our way to school...looks pretty uncomfortable to me, but what do I know!
Finally got to see Leia on one of her school day walks around the hospital...she seemed to have a radar for me so i had to keep hiding!
Drinking milk out of the carton?? Must be a Daddy/Leia Day!
